Airplane! Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 185 out of 215 people found the following review useful: Arguably one of the funniest films ever made from UK 6 June 2004 "Airplane!" is, was and always shall be the master of spoof movies. It is single-handedly responsible for literally inventing a sub-genre of comedy. It is the ultimate Silly Movie. A satire of the disaster movies of the 1970s, particularly the "Airport" series, nothing makes sense and it doesn't need to. There's no real plot. Just laughs - and plenty of 'em. It was helmed by the ZAZ trio (Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker), whose dedication to making the audience laugh is surprisingly adamant. Recent spoofs may have left a bad aftertaste in your mouth, but it seems to be a universal agreement: "Airplane" is the funniest film of its genre ever made.

(Closely followed by "The Naked Gun" - also penned by the ZAZ trio - perhaps.) The plot: Ted Striker (Robert Hays) is a war veteran-turned-cab-driver who decides to chase after his girlfriend, an airline stewardess named Elaine (Julie Hagerty), who has dumped him in order to pursue a new life. Right before her plane takes off, Ted climbs aboard, hitching a ride in order to woo her back into a relationship again. When the aircraft is in midflight, both pilots become very ill after eating their meals. Eventually many passengers begin to show symptoms of a rare disease, apparently transmitted by the food. Onboard, Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) takes care of the sick passengers as Ted - an ex-fighter pilot from the war - decides to try and land the plane. If he messes up they will all die, and in a particularly funny scene, the pressure becomes so unbearable that he begins to literally sweat gallons in the cockpit. That is essentially all the film is about, but most of its duration is spent cracking jokes. Spoof films are entirely different from other movies because normally we would criticize a film if it considered its plot to be the least important element.

Not so here. This is a truly brainless piece of celluloid - a movie that doesn't try to be anything that it isn't. From the opening credits - that cleverly spoof "JAWS" - to the closing we realize that this is an altogether unique film going experience. The movie's biggest laughs come through unexpected flashbacks, such as when Ted remembers where he first met Elaine in a crummy bar ("...it was worse than Detroit..."), and begins to disco-dance a la John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever" (complete with Bee Gees soundtrack blaring in the background and the famous Travolta pose). Then, later, we are taken back to when Ted was hospitalized after the war, and finds out that he was responsible for the death of six men. "Seven, actually," he is informed, which adds to the pain of the moment for him. Though this movie is very funny, many jokes misfire. If you're not pop culture savvy and you don't remember Mrs. Cleaver from TV's "Leave it to Beaver", the humor is going to go over your head. But unlike many comedies, "Airplane!" offers something unique for each person.

I know that as a film lover, I picked up on many movie in-jokes that some people might not recognize. And then there were the gags that I first missed but picked up after a second viewing, or when someone explained them to me, or both. And I'm sure there are many yet that I'm not aware of. It seems that every time I watch it, there's something else to laugh at that I missed previously. "Airplane!" not only was a huge success in 1980 (the year of its release), spinning off a horde of imitators and one sequel - it was also responsible for crowning Leslie Nielsen "The King of Spoof." Prior to "Airplane!" Nielsen had been a veteran of more serious productions, stemming back to playing cowboys on "The Mickey Mouse Club" and other embarrassing attempts at acting. However, Nielsen later claimed that he had always wanted to do a comedy, even when he first started acting seriously with projects such as the classic "Forbidden Planet" (one of the best science-fiction films ever made).

He later reunited with the ZAZ trio for "The Naked Gun" trilogy, appeared in similar spoof films over the years such as "Wrongfully Accused" and "Scary Movie 3," and had his iconic comedy shtick ripped off by many screen veterans - most noticeably by George Gaynes in the unbearable "Police Academy" (1984). When it comes down to a single evaluation, "Airplane" is simply the best spoof film ever made. It's like a MAD Magazine parody come to life. There are the occasional misfires, but unlike many other spoof film imitators, this one contains far more hits. The deadpan acting is genius and everything else fits into place, resulting in what may arguably be one of the absolute funniest films ever conceived and put on the big screen. And if you decide to watch the movie, don't blink - you might miss a gag or two. The "Police Academies" will come and go but "Airplane!" will never be forgotten. Was the above review useful to you? 162 out of 188 people found the following review useful: We have clearance, Clarence....

from United States 15 August 1999 It is my understanding that there are still a few people in the world that haven't seen "Airplane!" yet. Those people probably are still waiting for electricity, indoor plumbing and all the other great advances in humanity, too. To see "Airplane!" is to take part in the great move to subvert all self-importance in movies, which this film does with great relish (and plenty of corn). You get a chance to see such "serious" actors as Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack and Leslie Nielsen subvert themselves and their own personnae into near oblivion thanks to the writing/directing team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Not to mention visual and verbal send-ups of darn near every movie that ever took place in the air, and a few that didn't, but should have. Kudos to Leslie Nielsen, who with this movie gave himself the greatest reinvention of any actor this century. At one time, he was the very model of stoic sensibility. I swear. Seriously. Ten stars. A laugh riot. And I STILL think this would make a great in-flight movie. Was the above review useful to you?

104 out of 119 people found the following review useful: Still hilarious and fresh decades later 28 November 2001 *** This review may contain spoilers *** War pilot Ted Striker boards a flight for the first time since the war in order to stop his relationship with stewardess Elaine breaking up. Unfortunately the fish meal on the flight is bad and causes the crew to go sick leaving the plane on automatic pilot. With Striker the only man on board who can land the plane can he overcome his fears of failure stemming from the war? This without a doubt one of the best comedies of cinema, it is far and away the best spoof ever made - and it was made when this type of humour was still fresh. From the opening moments right down to the closing credits this is hilarious. The plot is a straight spoof of 1970's Airport disaster movies, and is only an excuse for a range of jokes. However the plot is bang on - it's detailed enough that it could be a serious disaster movie and allows the film to poke fun directly at the disasters movies themselves. The cast are perfect. For Robert Hays and Julie Hagerty this represents the best things they've ever done.

Both play the straight men for the majority and are relied upon to take it all seriously and drive the plot while jokes occur all round them, that said they deliver many themselves but always straight faced. Nielsen and Bridges are also spot on as stereotypical doctor and traffic control guy who "chose the wrong day to give up drinking"! They are both so straight faced that they make the whole thing seem even more silly. Robert Stack is excellent as the man brought in to talk the plane down, playing the butch masculine figure ignoring all the madness around him. Also on the ground, Stephen Stucker is great as the camp controller who delivers many brilliant one liners as he walks through scenes. Peter Graves and Kareen Abdul Jabbar are great as two of the pilots that almost are in a different movie the things they say! The film is a spot on spoof of disaster movies, making fun of the many clichés of the genre - the nuns on board, the sick child, the "only man who can land the plane", the poisoned food etc. But it does more than just poke fun at these - it is hilarious in it's own right. All the cast deliver their lines brilliantly and the script!

The script is excellent - I'm not going to start listing lines but they come so thick and fast that you usually miss something because you're laughing at the last joke. This is the mould for all spoofs - this is the one to beat. While many spoofs are hit and miss this is almost a total hit. Decades on and many viewings later this is still as fresh and as funny as it ever was. A brilliant, brilliant comedy! Was the above review useful to you? 98 out of 118 people found the following review useful: the greatest comedy of all time from Newark, DE 30 March 2005 Airplane is simply the funniest movie of all time. It handles the broad range of parody, satire, and plain silliness expertly, and has some of the greatest one-liners and sight gags ever put in a movie. Sure some of the jokes are dated, but great comedies (especially parodies) exist in the moment, and you have to expect that. The fact is, enough jokes hit the bullseye that it really is one of those rare movies where you are laughing constantly. I am, at least.

This movie launched Leslie Nielsen's career as a comedy actor, although he still hasn't made anything this good (Naked Gun comes closest, but it's still light years away from this). Do any movies come close to hitting the zenith that this one does? "Young Frankenstein" comes close, but even the best Mel Brooks film doesn't top this. There has simply never been a funnier movie than "Airplane!" and for that, it deserves to be considered one of the greatest MOVIES of all time (I know for many people that's a stretch, but I stand by it; I've been watching it my whole life and there's still nothing I flat-out enjoy watching more). Was the above review useful to you? 101 out of 131 people found the following review useful: The original spoof classic! from Luoyang, China 7 May 2003 Unfortunately, Airplane! has been, for me, one of those comedies that I have seen so many times in the video store that its appeal has gradually worn down to almost nothing, resulting in a total absence of interest in renting it.

I eventually watched it one day because I worked at the video store and could rent movies for free, and was continuing on my desperate attempt to watch every movie in the store (a goal which continues to this day, although by now I've come to realize that it's never going to happen). During my quest, by the way, I also saw the old 1970 film Airport, probably ten years after having seen parts of Airplane!, and realized that this is one of the many movies that inspired Airplane! In general, I'm a little cautious about movies that have exclamation points in the titles, but Airplane! is without a doubt one of the funniest movies ever made. Consider, for example, those little montages that studios sometimes put together and put at the beginning of movies when they come out on videotape, honoring the great movies that the studio has made in the past. They show lots of memorable clips from their old movies (and I always write all of these titles down, determined to watch them all, and then promptly lose the list that I made) to remind you how great they are. I had a good time watching Airplane!

and picking out how many scenes are in the movie that can and do go into those memorable montages. Airplane! is made up of a series of hilarious scenes that string together a thin shoestring plot, which ironically speaks in the movie's defense. In general, movies with weak stories that are driven along by comedic stunts and pranks and whatnot tend to be pretty weak, but Airplane! is not driven by stunts to cover a weak story as much as the quality of the stunts and the slapstick comedy is so good that they overshadow everything else. It's interesting to watch someone like Robert Stack so many years ago and see that he looked and talked exactly like he did in Unsolved Mysteries so many years later, a show the seriousness of which boggles the mind, given that it's hosted by someone who did so well in a movie like this one. My favorite thing about this movie is, obviously, the huge amount of sound bytes that comes from it, just the cleverness of the way it was written and put together.

You have the main character's `drinking problem,' the airport announcers (`Listen, Betty, don't start up with your white zone sh*t again '), the stress of the people investigating the situation on the plane (`Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking/drinking/amphetamines.'), the plays on words (`There's a problem at the control tower!' `What is it?' `It's the big tower where the air traffic controllers talk to the planes.'), that one airport employee who was suspiciously bubbly and excited throughout the entire movie (while providing some of its best comedy), and then of course were the situational gags, such as Robert Stack pulling off his sunglasses to reveal another pair underneath (arguably the most famous scene in the entire film). This is a movie where a list like this could go on and on, and I'm sure if you go to the memorable quotes page on the IMDb you'll find a gigantic list of hilarious quotes from the movie there.

It is no secret that this is something of a childish and immature comedy, but it is smartly written and has so many great scenes and bits of dialogue that it's one of those rare movies that makes you want to take notes so you won't forget a lot of the lines. It is one of the earlier versions of Leslie Nielsen's spoofs, a genre in itself which went on to tremendous success with lots of great (and some not so great) spoofs to follow. Was the above review useful to you? 49 out of 59 people found the following review useful: An Undoubted Classic from England 15 January 2005 Still one of funniest spoof movies ever made, Airplane is one of the first and one of the best around. Hot Shots, Loaded Weapon even Naked Gun have tried to follow in its footsteps, but they have failed to hit the mark. That's not to say that they are bad movies, just that its difficult to follow a movie of this calibre.

Spoof movies definitely have there place in everyone's collection, but this is probably the best you'll ever see in the genre, if you have never seen it and you fancy a laugh, I can't recommend a better film, even though it has dated; it's still hilarious 9/10 Was the above review useful to you? 47 out of 60 people found the following review useful: The funniest movie ever? Yes from United Kingdom 6 October 2005 Very rarely does a film come out that is as truly brilliant as Airplane. It has everything that a comedy should have. The cast is fantastic, the jokes hilarious and almost constant. One of the best things about Airplane that I have found is that the jokes are not all obvious, and because of this it has far more re-watchability than most comedies, as every time you watch it you pick up on more of the subtler jokes and background sight gags. It is a film that manages to cater for almost all tastes in humour, from dry wit to slapstick via spoofery and dark humour. If you haven't seen this film you MUST watch it. This is one of those few films that everybody can enjoy.

It's fairly rare to find a comedy the whole family can enjoy, most are either unsuitable for children or too childish for adults, but Airplane manages to find that balance where all ages can enjoy it. In conclusion, if you have yet to see this film, watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again. Was the above review useful to you? 47 out of 60 people found the following review useful: One of the best all-time, roll with laughter movies! from United States 31 January 2005 If you really need a good laugh out loud movie, to make you feel good, this is one of them! The 1st time we saw this movie, on cable, not long after it came out, we were rolling with laughter! This movie was one of the all-time best, with Lloyd Bridges, and that crazy air traffic controllers' scenes were the funniest. With every line of the movie having a comeback, and another meaning--this movie ranks up there with the pool scene in Caddyshack as one of the best--you're rolling with laughter!

With Lloyd Bridges slowly going insane throughout the movie, with an all-star cast including Robert Hayes,very funny, they even had Ethel Merman doing a cameo, (not long before her death), it was hilarious. Even the sequel came out to be as good as the original. Was the above review useful to you? 52 out of 71 people found the following review useful: A hilarious gem! from Jersey City, NJ 13 March 2003 This is voted as one of the funniest comedies of all time, and it deserves that honor! The film is filled with hilarious gags! Sure, in every one of these campy farces, there's usually a few gags that are way too silly. In this case, it was the "drinking problem" gag and that annoying gay man who works on Lloyd Bridges' staff. But when I can actually count on my hand how many gags didn't work, that's a good sign. The majority of the film sent me into a frenzy of laughter! One of my favorites is when the blow-up auto-pilot runs out of air and Julie Hagerty blows it back up again. You'll have to see the movie to find out why it was so hilarious!

I also got a great kick out of the running gag in which every passenger who listens to Robert Hays ends up killing themselves. This is definitely the Zuckers and Abrahams in top form! Unfortunately, I haven't seen a great spoof in years. The "Scary Movie" films were pretty good, but incredibly lewd and crude. And obviously the Zuckers and Abrahams have much better eyes for satire than the Wayans brothers. I caught "Scary Movie" on cable and watched it a second time, and I didn't laugh nearly as many times as I did the first time. I can watch "Airplane" 200 times and still laugh like there's no tomorrow! The film was made back when comedies didn't go strictly for sex and toilet gags to make an audience laugh. This was back when writers used to employ this quality called "wit." "Kentucky Fried Movie" had some racy gags, but even those were witty for the most part. There is a certain rhythm in every gag that helps make the film work. For example, Lloyd Bridges starts out by saying "I think I picked the wrong day to quit smoking." Then he says he picked the wrong day to quit drinking.

And when he finally says "I picked the wrong day to quit amphetamines," I was laughing my head off! So basically, you watch a film like this and feel the urge to mail a copy of the video to the Wayans Brothers and whatever crackheads wrote "Not Another Teen Movie," along with a note saying "THIS is how to make a spoof!" There are so many other gags worth mentioning, including the "Saturday Night Fever" sendup, which is definitely one of the best comic moments caught on film! That scene also contains my favorite line: "I told the guy next to me to pinch me to make sure I wasn't dreaming." After that voice-over, we see the guy next to Robert Hays repulsed and walking away from him. Another great example of perfect comic timing and delivery! If you want to get some authentic belly laughs--I'm not talking chuckles, but actual LAUGHS!--you must check out "Airplane." Trust me, movies don't get much more original or funny than this! My score: 9 (out of 10) Was the above review useful to you? 44 out of 58 people found the following review useful: "I am serious...

and don't call me Shirley." from King of Prussia, PA 13 February 2005 In a tense moment where Ted Striker (Robert Hays) needs to land an airplane where the pilots (Peter Graves and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) have fallen sick, and several passengers need to get off the airplane for various reasons, all Striker can think to himself (with an echo in his mind, of course) is "I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... I've got to concentrate... concentrate... concentrate... Hello?... hello... hello... Echo... echo... echo... Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon... Manny Mota... Mota... Mota..." That pretty much sums up the seriousness of Airplane!, the lampoon of the 1970s Airport movies, and pretty much every other disaster movie pumped out by Hollywood. The same guys who pieced together the Naked Gun movies write and direct this silly movie. Most of the jokes need to be seen to be properly experienced, the first rate actors are what brings the laughs.

Robert Stack plays it straight, over-the-top straight, as a problem solver for the airline who happens to wear 2 pairs of sunglasses at all times. Stack's comedic timing and deadpan delivery bring out some of the biggest laughs of the film. Lloyd Bridges is the over-worked, over-stressed traffic controller who has picked the wrong week to stop drinking, smoking, and sniffing glue. And Leslie Neilson plays a doctor who has an acute sense for the obvious, surely one who could save the passengers and airline crew if they land safely, just don't call him Shirley. A few cheap laughs, a few misses, but over all, a pretty funny movie. If you like The Naked Gun, you'll like Airplane! Was the above review useful to you? Page 1 of 43: The 12 Best Satire Movies On Netflix Streaming: Login & Watch Now EMAIL Paramount Pictures A well-done parody movie is almost a relic of the past these days.

Sure, you’ve got your Scary Movies 1-12 (?) and whatever flavor of the Epic/Date/Sports Movie Marlon Wayans is appearing in this year, but there just aren’t many — if any — parody or satire films that live up to the Mel Brooks and Jim Abrahams classics of the past. Netflix has an unbelievably long list of spoofs and satires available for streaming, with some of those great satire and parody classics currently available. There’s no Blazing Saddles, but we do have Naked Gun (two of them actually) as well as Airplane! and some Monty Python at our streaming disposal. I hope you like puns and slapstick, because these 12 movies are loaded with them. Magnet 1. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil 4 stars out of 1716626 ratings I’ve already covered Tucker & Dale vs. Evil in our roundup of Netflix’s best comedies and horror films. If you haven’t watched it by now, then there’s probably not much I can do to convince you at this point.

There’s really no better spoof of teenage slasher horror films out there, so I don’t know what’s stopping you from enjoying this indie splatter fest. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.6 Paramount Pictures 2. Scrooged 3.9 stars out of 550309 ratings Nothing spurs the holiday spirit quite like “Robert Goulet’s Cajun Christmas” and the other terribly tacky specials from the fictional IBC TV network in Scrooged. The 1988 dark comedy based on A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray playing a jaded TV executive offered a fresh spin on the holiday tale and expertly skewered the corporate commercialism of the season. Murray is sleazy and hilariously sarcastic in his role and Bobcat Goldthwait and Carol Kane turn in terrific performances as well. Rotten Tomatoes 72, IMDB 7.0 7th Level Productions 3.

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life 3.8 stars out of 1,526,540 ratings Meaning of Life took a different step than Monty Python’s previous films, Holy Grail and Life of Brian, opting for a sketch format rather than a continuous storyline. The Python silliness focuses on the different aspects of life in various sketches and historical periods in history broken up into seven different chapters. It’s more outrageous than any of the other Python films, and if you couldn’t tell by the image above, it’s got some seriously gross moments. Hilarious, but maybe not a movie you want to watch while eating. Rotten Tomatoes 83, IMDB 7.3 20th Century Fox 4. M*A*S*H 3.8 stars out of 1,081,753 ratings M*A*S*H made it into our lists of patriotic Netflix offerings and the war satire laid the blueprint for how making a good military comedy should be done.

The Robert Altman directed movie about a group of doctors working in a field hospital during the Korean War went on to receive five Oscar nominations in 1971 as well as win a Golden Globe for “Best Musical or Comedy.” Then there was that massively successful spin-off TV series. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.7 Paramount Pictures 5. Airplane! 3.7 stars out of 3977226 ratings There are essentially two kinds of people in this world, those who enjoy Airplane!, and those who hate life and all of its pleasures. There are few movies out there that make as brilliant use of puns as Jim Abraham’s 1980 comedy. The airline disaster spoof follows the heroics of an airline crew after they’re stricken with a case of food poisoning, and is one of those rare comedies that you can watch numerous times and find jokes that you might have previously missed. (Its sequel also happens to be available for streaming, too.) Rotten Tomatoes 89, IMDB 7.8 Paramount Pictures 6.

The Naked Gun 3.6 stars out of 2,310,651 ratings It’s probably been 15 years since I’ve seen a Naked Gun film, but what I remember from when I was a kid is that they had some of the greatest dirty jokes — PG-13 dirty at least – my ears had ever heard. The trilogy was created by the Airplane! team of Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams and was actually a spin-off of the short-lived TV series, Police Squad! The cop spoof follows Leslie Nielsen in what is arguably his greatest role as perpetual screw-up cop Frank Derbin trying to foil an assassination plot. And in case you forgot, the film also features pre-convicted felon O.J. Simpson. Rotten Tomatoes 84, IMDB 7.6 Share This Greatest Films of 1980 Film Genre(s), Title, Year, (Country), Length, Director, Description Airplane!

(1980), 88 minutes, D: Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker A trend-setting, zany, hilarious comedy - using the airplane disaster film, such as Airport (1970), as a spoof stepping stone, from the comedy writing/directing team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (known colloquially as ZAZ and their brand of "ZAZ humor"). This film was preceded by their screenwriting for John Landis' The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) (the ZAZ trio of comedy writers were known as The Kentucky Fried Theater when they performed as a Wisconsin comedy troupe), and later followed by Top Secret! (1984), and Ruthless People (1986).

Airplane's plot is an excuse for a frantic, slapstick parody filled with visual-sight gags, puns, verbal literalism ("Surely you can't be serious." "I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"), rapid-fire satirical wisecracks, irreverent references to From Here to Eternity (1953) and Saturday Night Fever (1977) disco dancing, and visual non-sequiturs. Shell-shocked ex-military flyer Ted Striker (Robert Hays) pursues girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty) - a stewardess on an ill-fated flight with stricken pilots. This movie also revitalized the acting careers of Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, and Robert Stack, and launched the comedy career of Leslie Nielsen as the straight-faced, dead-panning doctor, who up to that time was known mostly for B-movie dramatic roles, in films like Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Followed by a less funny ZAZ-less Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) by director Ken Finkleman.

Atlantic City (1980, US/Can./Fr.), 104 minutes, D: Louis Malle The Big Red One (1980), 113 minutes, D: Samuel Fuller Breaker Morant (1980, Australia), 107 minutes, D: Bruce Beresford This anti-war film's setting was during the era of the brutal Boer War (1899-1902) between the Boers (Afrikaaners) and the British Carabineers in the area of the Northern Transvaal - it was a struggle for independence. During the fighting, the elite Bushveldt Carabineers (Australians) were ambushed and Captain Hunt was captured, mutilated and killed. In revenge, Lt. Harry "Breaker" Morant (Edward Woodward) and his men took and executed prisoners. To end the war with the Boers and appease the Germans, British general Lord Kitchener selected three scapegoats to be put on trial: Morant, Lt. Peter Handcock (Bryan Brown) and Lt. George Witton (Lewis Fitzgerald). Lt.

Colonel Denny (Charles Tingwell) presided over the 5-person general court-martial tribunal, held in a remote courtroom. Major Charles Bolton (Rod Mullinar) prosecuted, while inexperienced defense attorney Major F. Thomas (Edward Woodward) defended the three hapless soldiers in a sham trial. Thomas valiantly struggled to defend the men, arguing that in such an unconventional war, there were bound to be casualties, and unclear instructions about how to treat the enemy. Handcock and Morant were sentenced to death (and shot at sunrise), while Witton was sentenced to life (although released after three years).

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), 125 minutes, D: Michael Apted Dressed to Kill (1980), 105 minutes, D: Brian De Palma The Elephant Man (1980), 125 minutes, D: David Lynch The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (aka Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), 120 minutes, D: Irvin Kershner The second in the famous Star Wars trilogy of fantastic science-fiction films, often rated as the best in the trilogy, with stunning special-effects, great characters and a rich, comic-bookish storyline. Again, evil Darth Vader continues to aid the Emperor to determinedly crush the Rebel forces. The Rebel Alliance, on the frozen and icy planet Hoth, are threatened by troops attacking from the Galactic Empire, and space jockey Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) - with the Wookie Chewbacca and the two robotic droids (R2-D2 and C-3PO) - flee to Cloud City ruled by supposed-ally Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).

Meanwhile, young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is mentored about the wise ways of the Force and Jedi Knights by the last great Jedi Master, a gnome-like, swamp-dwelling Yoda on the planet Dagobah. The film culminates with a climactic show-down between Luke and Darth Vader. Followed by Return of the Jedi (1983) . The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980, Botswana), 109 minutes, D: Jamie Uys Heaven's Gate (1980), 219 minutes, D: Michael Cimino Kagemusha (1980, Jp.) (aka The Shadow Warrior), 162 minutes, D: Akira Kurosawa The Long Good Friday (1980, UK), 105 minutes, D: John Mackenzie Melvin and Howard (1980), 95 minutes, D: Jonathan Demme Ordinary People (1980), 124 minutes, D: Robert Redford Best Clips From the Movie Airplane - YouTube Best Clips From the Movie Airplane Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist.

Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 18, 2012 The best clips from the movie Airplane (1980), enjoy! Category Top 50 underappreciated comedy films of the past 30 years | Den of Geek Search Top 50 underappreciated comedy films of the past 30 years They don't make funny movies any more, right? Wrong. If you're looking for a laugh, then here are some you may have missed... tumblr For this list, blame The Hangover Part III. It was whilst walking out of that movie that I got into a chat with someone, who was bemoaning the lack of genuinely funny movie comedies. Certainly, big budget Hollywood comedies have no end of problems right now - with the occasional exception - but I couldn't help thinking of the many neglected gems that had gone through my DVD player over the past decade or so. As such, I started to put this list together. It's inevitably subjective, as one person's comedy is another person's snore fest.

But I've tried to dig out a mix of comedies from the past three decades that have either flown under the radar completely, or simply failed to ignite in the way they should have done. Some of these are well known, and some didn't do badly at the box office. All of them, however, deserved more. So, without further ado, my choices of the underappreciated comedies of the last 30 years... I'll kick off with the ones that just missed the cut, for a range of reasons, but still deserve a mention: Hocus Pocus, George Of The Jungle, Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy, Dude, Where's My Car? (the one joke when they're ordered drive through food gets it a mention), Without A Clue, Lucas, The Stupids, George Of The Jungle. And now, on with the final selection... 50. Boomerang Eddie Murphy's career, not for the last time, was in the doldrums when he teamed up with director Reginald Hudlin to make Boomerang.

Reportedly, Murphy put in a proper shift too, attending rehearsals and turning in an underappreciated performance opposite Robin Givens in a chucklesome comedy. Murphy's had one or two others that flew under the radar too - The Distinguished Gentlemen has its moments - but it was Boomerang that kickstarted the second successful phase of his career. A good, solid, funny comedy, that showed why he became such a strong comedy leading man in the first place. 49. Zack & Miri Make A Porno Kevin Smith's final self-penned comedy to date, as the man himself has charted, severely underperformed at the box office. It kickstarted a period of his life that would see him change his approach to movies, and eventually take a step back from making them altogether. Yet lost in the midst of all of this was the fact that Zack & Miri Make A Porno is a far funnier movie that it's often given credit for. What Smith does, better than most comedy directors, is pull together not just compelling leads, but a collection of cameo and supporting characters that are enormously fun to watch. It's crude, but comfortably one of Smith's funniest films. 48.

The Road To Wellville Alan Parker's lost movie, this. The Road To Wellville's weaker second half belies the sheer joy of the first. It's a movie that tells the story of cereal inventor Dr Kellogg (played by Anthony Hopkins), and his bizarre early 20th century health facility. Hopkins is great value in the lead role, and the lively supporting cast - Matthew Broderick, John Cusack, Dana Carvey, Bridget Fonda, Colm Meaney - are good value too. Check out too the fun score from Rachel Portman. It's brief, but has the best track of laughing ladies you'll ever want to hear. 47. Jack And Sarah Lost a little mail-Four Weddings And A Funeral, Jack And Sarah is a charming and funny movie that gives Richard E Grant a rare and very welcome lead role. Samantha Mathis - so excellent in Pump Up The Volume, which we looked at here - plays a young American who takes on a nanny role in a British man's house. Said British man, Jack, is played by Grant, and his character is recently widowed.

From that premise, Tim Sullivan's movie delivers good laughs, a lot of heart and precious little schmaltz. It's an overlooked gem. 46. Over The Hedge If you're looking for some of the best big screen comedy of the past decade, then check out the animated films. One that seems to have got lost in the midst of the assorted franchises and clutter and DreamWorks' wonderful Over The Hedge. It never found quite the mass audience it needed for a sequel, but it's often exceptionally funny, and scores bonus William Shatner switch. DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg has admitted in the past that he has a soft spot for this one, and he'd like to have done another. We agree with him. 45. The Parole Officer Off the back of the success of Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan took to the big screen in this British comedy that saw him playing a character with about 20% of Partridge's DNA (not least in a glorious rant of sorts near the end). Directed by John Duigan - the director behind the brilliant Sirens and particularly Flirting - Coogan's parole officer finds himself framed for murder, with often very funny results.

It's not vintage Coogan, perhaps, but it certainly deserves to be far more than bargain bin fodder. It's a good, solid British comedy. 44. Festival Here's a great little British black comedy, about a group of disparate, neurotic characters and their experiences at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Stephen Mangan puts in a great performance as an arrogant and wildly successful comedian, while Chris O'Dowd and Lucy Punch are similarly fun as the less popular funny people attempting to make an impression on apathetic audiences. One of those UK films that was barely marketed for some reason, it's well worth seeking out on DVD. 43. Mousehunt Laced throughout many of Gore Verbinski's films - from The Lone Ranger and Pirates Of The Caribbean movies, to Rango (although perhaps not The Ring) - is a real adept comedy touch. Not surprising, though, to those of us who sat through and enjoyed Mousehunt. It's the kind of movie that looks garbage on the packaging, but it's a real delight when you sit down to watch it.

Nathan Lane and Lee Evans are an excellent comedy double act, and Verbinski basically compiles as close to a live action Tom & Jerry as you're likely to get. Plus: Christopher Walken. 42. Bhaji On The Beach A British comedy from 1993 from director Gurinder Chadha (who would go on to make Bend It Like Beckham, amongst others), Bhaji On The Beach is a funny and intelligent piece of work from the pen of Meera Syal. Its central plot concerns a bunch of British Asian women going on a daytrip to Blackpool, but where the movie has plenty of fun is exploiting the age - and attitude - differences between the seasiders. Witty, sparky dialogue and some real depth to the characters help too, and Bhaji On The Beach doesn't shortchange on laughs either. A little gem. 41. Eurotrip In spite of its problems, there are lots and lots of things to like about 2004's Eurotrip. The music, one particularly excellent gag about the value of international currencies, and an ensemble cast who have a whale of a time with the idea of a road trip movie across Europe. Predictable? Yep, it's pretty guilty there.

Funny? Very. 40. Soapdish Did the 90s have a better ensemble cast in a comedy than the one Soapdish attracted? There's an argument for the movie we've listed at number 26, but Soapdish pulls together Whoopi Goldberg (who had solid comedy hits throughout the decade, notably Made In America and the Sister Act films), Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr (and just how young does he look in this?) and the hugely underappreciated Cathy Moriarty. It's a gleeful comedy too, taking place behind the scenes of hit TV soap opera, with everyone concerned willing to send themselves up a treat. Lots of good laughs, too. 39. PCU Fascinating trivia time: PCU is directed by the man who played Ellis in Die Hard, Mr Hart Bochner ( we interviewed him here ). Bochner also helmed the comedy High School High. PCU is the best one though, and it's also a movie that's not particularly well known outside of the US. Understandably perhaps: it's a campus comedy, in the style of Animal House, where you'll find a young Jon Favreau in the midst of the ensemble cast. 38.

Addams Family Values A surprise box office disappointment, this was comfortably the best of the Addams Family films, and Christina Ricci's performance as Wednesday is the best comedy work by a then-child actress in recent memory. Her trip into the happiness hut remains the comic highlight of Addams Family Values, but Barry Sonnenfeld's sequel packs in more laughs than he squeezed out of three Men In Black films. It's a real delight, and a surprisingly overlooked one. With extra switch too for excellent supporting work by Peter MacNicol and Christine Baranski (who we're going to talk about later)... 37. Stiff Upper Lips The Merchant Ivory period drama was prevalent in British movie theater in the 80s and 90s, and this fun spoof gleefully pokes fun at it all. Stiff Upper Lips, from Leon The Pig Farmer director Gary Sinyor, plays with class differences, snobbery, posh costumes and Britishness, and mines the genre efficiently for laughs. A sequel, in the Downton Abbey era, would be very welcome. 36. The Man Who Knew Too Little Three Bill Murray projects next (and there's a case for his sole directorial effort, What About Bob, as well).

The Man Who Knew Too Little is a movie that works precisely because of Murray's careful, excellent performance as a man mistaken for a spy. Rowan Atkinson covered similar ground in the fairly shitty Johnny English movies, but The Man Who Knew Too Little manages to put a solid movie around a great central performance. That's the key difference. It's no classic again, but it's a lot of fun. 35. Osmosis Jones A belter, this one. A mainly animated movie that bombed at the box office, Osmosis Jones is a comedy set inside the human body, where the race is on to stop a virus from killing the person that the movie is set inside. It's from the Farrelly Brothers, and the switch to animation serves them well. Bill Murray plays the human concerned, and the mainly voice cast is rounded out by the likes of Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne and The Shatner. It's a hugely underrated movie this one, full stop. 34. What About Bob Frank Oz's comedy joins Bill Murray with Richard Dreyfuss for a movie about a psychiatrist who, on his vacation, is tracked down by one of his more obsessive patients.

But whilst Murray's performance as said patient is suitably strong, much of the delight with What About Bob? comes from the brilliant Richard Dreyfuss. Furthermore, the interplay between the pair of them is excellent, and for a movie that simply pairs two brilliant actors on strong form, What About Bob? would earn a recommendation alone. That it's also very, very funny helps enormously. A quick tip of the hat too for another Murray project that we couldn't quite squeeze onto the list, Quick Change. That one has its moments as well... 33. Funny Bones Director Peter Chelsom has made some strong films - Hear My Song is a real standout - but it's the delightful Funny Bones we're giving a nudge to on this list. The story of a man after a comedy partner, the movie's not strictly a full-on comedy - Jerry Lewis' role is a straight one here - but it's a wonderfully quirky piece of movie theater. Plus, Lee Evans is excellent, and Oliver Platt - in a rare lead role - is strong too. With Oliver Reed and Leslie Caron helping round out the cast, this is a fascinating oddity, and an amusing one. 32.

Death Becomes Her Robert Zemeckis doesn't do much in the way of comedy now, which is a shame, given that his CV includes the likes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Romancing The Stone. Perhaps the commercial disappointment of his effects-driven comedy Death Becomes Her was partly to blame. Uniting Bruce Willis, Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn, truthfully, this wasn't a movie I warmed to a lot first time I saw it (nor did lots of reviewers, it seems), but it stands up, and there's screwball fun and black comedy to be had. It seems strange that a movie gets knocked for having ambitions not too far beyond being fun, but Death Becomes Her definitely deserves a reappraisal. 31. Party Girl That Parker Posey, one of the best acting talents of her generation, has never enjoyed more mainstream success is baffling. Sure, her commitment to independent and smaller movies has a part to play there, but from good films to bad, she's consistently shone. Looking for proof? How about the 1995 movie Party Girl, a very funny flick that gives Posey a big, strong lead role.

Her character is tinged with grey areas, and the movie itself has brains, and has fun. Further Parker Posey recommendations? Apart from any Christopher Guest movie, Josie And The Pussycats is pretty much a must. 30. My Cousin Vinny I've always had a softer spot than most for director Jonathan Lynn's Sgt Bilko remake, but My Cousin Vinny was the movie of his that broke through (not withstanding the wonderful Clue, of course). It notoriously won Marisa Tomei an Oscar, but otherwise seems to be a bit forgotten about. It doesn't deserve that, though. Joe Pesci's central performance is very funny, the script crackles with good lines, and Herman Munster himself - Fred Gwynne - gets an excellent final big screen role as Judge Haller. In fact, the interplay between Pesci and Gwynne alone is enough to justify digging the DVD out. 29. Crazy People The late Dudley Moore's big screen comedies were patchy towards the end of his career, but Crazy People stands out. It's a great concept here, a movie about an advertising professional who decides to simply tell the truth in his commercials.

And inevitably much of the fun follows his new found career direction. A sort-of Jerry Maguire, if he'd been allowed to keep his job. That said, some of the material feels quite uncomfortable now... 28. 2 Days In Paris Followed by a sequel, 2 Days In New York, it's best to start with the French-set opener, which is written and directed by Julie Delpy, who also stars. It feels a bit like a loose cousin of the Before Sunset/Sunshine/Midnight films, as Delpy and Adam Grunberg play a couple attempting to put the spark back into the relationship. They do so by visiting her mother in Paris, a city that just happens to also house several former lovers. Delpy's script is very, very funny in places, and like many of the best comedies, there's quite a lot bubbling below the surface. A bit too long perhaps, but a quality comedy. 27. Brewster's Millions There's a decent argument that Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor comedy See No Evil Hear No Evil should be on this list, although truthfully, I've always found it just a little patchy.

For concentrated Pryor genius, the Pryor-centric take on Brewster's Millions was and is far more fun. Co-starring John Candy (and with Walter Hill directing), Pryor's Brewster has to blow $30m in 30 days so that he can inherit $300m. Truthfully, it's the performances rather than script that seem to breathe so much life into Brewster's Millions, but it does seem to be the overlooked Richard Pryor movie. He gives a golden performance here, even if pretty much everyone watching could have worked out more efficient ways to spend the money quicker. 26. The Paper With Parenthood, director Ron Howard delivered one of the very best ensemble comedies of the 1980s. He went on to prove that it was no fluke, once again assembling a strong ensemble and putting them together with very funny and very entertaining results. Unlike Parenthood, though, The Paper all but sank. The setting is a New York tabloid newspaper, with a grizzled collection of characters and a daily deadline to hit.

That instantly lends the movie an energy and a pace to it, but it's the sparks between the company of actors - including Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Randy Quaid and Robert Duvall - that makes it work so well. The late, great Jason Robards is on fine form too. And while we're here, Howard's satirical comedy EdTV, released after The Truman Show but made around the same time, deserves a bit more love too. Apologies for the page break, but the list's so long, it would take an eternity to load without one. Anyway, here's the next half of our underappreciated comedy list, which counts us down from 25 to one. And the first entry is a cracking sci-fi comedy with monsters invading Ireland... 25. Grabbers Grabbers made it to UK cinemas for just four or five days at the end of last year, when it then promptly left the big screen for the world of DVD and Blu-ray. A real pity, because this mix of horror and comedy delivers some very, very big laughs.

The genius to it was widely given away with the promotion of the movie, but we'll just go as far as to say some beverage consumption helps fuel the movie at one stage. Plus, there's some welcome improvisational tactics when faced with lots of dangerous (and impeccably designed) monsters. 24. A Cock & Bull Story Comedians Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon have teamed up since with the wonderful TV series The Trip, but Michael Winterbottom's 2005 feature is every bit as funny. Essentially a movie within a movie, A Cock & Bull Story goes behind the scenes of an ill-fated attempt to shoot an adaptation of the classic 18th century novel The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy. Like the novel, the movie's a work of metafiction, and full of digressions and apparently incidental conversations which are extremely funny. Coogan and Brydon have an easy charm as they spark off one another, and some of the movie's best moments are the ones where they're just sitting around talking.

The unusual and loose narrative structure make this more of a niche picture than the dreaded Hangover movie, but it's full of genuinely funny moments, and a talented supporting cast - look out for Stephen Fry, Gillian Anderson, Dylan Moran and lots of other familiar faces in small roles. 23. Lucky Break A criminally overlooked British prison movie, headlined by James Nesbitt, about an attempted breakout. The Full Monty's Peter Cattaneo directs, as the plan is put in place for the prisoners to put on a musical (the book to which is written by Stephen Fry!) as cover for an escape attempt. The movie scores switch instantly for including Celia Imrie in the cast, but the ensemble - which includes Timothy Spall, Olivia Williams and Bill Nighy - are a lot of fun. And the movie itself is a bit of a hoot. 22. Orphans If you like your comedy black, then Peter Mullan's Orphans is very much the kind of movie where you can't believe quite what you're laughing at. It's a dark tale of four siblings, who come together in Glasgow for their mother's funeral, that Mullan wrote and directed.

He's got a sharp eye for comedy too, finding plenty of humor in the midst of the central tragedy. And the denouement is really quite priceless. The drama goes quite deep at times, and Mullan balances his excellent movie with real skill. Your funnybones will most definitely get a workout. 21. Urusei Yatsura: Only You Here's a truly oddball one for you. In Japan, Rumiko Takahashi's manga series Urusei Yatsura (literally, Those Obnoxious Aliens) was colossally successful in the 70s and 80s, and spawned a long-running TV anime as well as a number of animated movies. The premise - and this is really simplifying things - is that a painfully dim highschool student named Ataru has managed to prevent an alien takeover by sheer dumb luck, but ends up in an arranged marriage to a floating alien princess named Lum by doing so.

This second movie came out in 1983, but you don't necessarily need to have seen the previous movie or the TV series to appreciate it - a screwball comedy of the most surreal sort, it's wildly entertaining, even if one or two of the cultural references and puns go over your head somewhat. The early sight of a chubby pink penguin postman on a floating bicycle really is a sight to behold. 20. Dick The most underappreciated screen portrayal of Richard Nixon is arguably Dan Hedaya's take on the former US President. Dick, from co-writer and director Andrew Fleming (who was behind the worth-seeking-out Threesome), sees Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams as two girls taking the White House tour. Not being blessed with the foresight that Roland Emmerich's White House Down would offer some time later, the pair split off from said tour, and meet Tricky Dicky himself. So you sort of end up with a teen comedy on one hand, a riffing of the Watergate scandal on the other, and a historical comedy in the middle of it all. Box office gold did not follow, but Dick is a little gem.

And Hedaya would have done Oliver Stone proud had he not cast Anthony Hopkins as Nixon instead... 19. Matinee Joe Dante's outright funniest comedy arguable remains Gremlins 2, a movie that - contrary to its initial movie theater release - seems very popular now. But what about Matinee? A love mail to B movies, the movie centres around John Goodman's showman, who arrives in a small time with the aim of making the most out of its picture house. Never mind 3D or an IMAX screen, Goodman's Lawrence Woolsey - based around William Castle - looks to pull out all the tricks to give his audience a good time. And it's all the more important, given the sinister backdrop of the Cuban missile crisis. A movie of two halves certainly, but even the movie within a movie here - "Mant! Half man, half ant, all terror!" - would be worth the admission money/rental fee/download cost/prison sentence if you nick the movie. 18. Tucker & Dale Vs Evil Horror comedies are difficult to get right, but this slasher parody manages to skewer the trappings of its genre with extraordinary precision, and creates two genuinely loveable main characters at the same time.

Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine play the title Tucker and Dale, a pair of hillbillies who are in the process of rennovating their dream retreat - a little cabin in the woods. Before they know it, a group of obnoxious, wealthy city teenagers are swarming around the place, and their tendency to accidentally off themselves leads to the assumption that Tucker and Dale are derranged serial killers. Telling the bloody tale from the perspective of two placid country folk is an absolute masterstroke, and Tucker & Dale is a real treat from start to finish. 17. Fear Of A Black Hat The format of this 90s comedy may not be especially innovative - essentially, it's the Spinal Tap of the rap music scene - but it's genuinely funny. The passage of time may have rendered some of the jokes obscure to the youth of today, but anyone with memories of 90s hip-hop and popular music in general will have fun with the way Fear Of A Black Hat pokes fun at the era's music industry. 16.

The Ref Released as Hostile Hostages for some reason in the UK, this is a movie from the late, sorely missed Ted Demme, which sees Denis Leary's burglar taking a family hostage on Christmas Eve. The problem? He's bitten off a bit more than he can chew, not least with the bickering couple at the heart of the family, played brilliantly by Judy Davis and Kevin Spacey. So the movie turns, and the burglar turns out to be the one trying to bring the family together, ideally before the police turn up and arrest him. Simple. With crackling dialogue, performances with genuine crackle and spark, and dark edges all around, The Ref/Hostile Hostages/Whatever you want to call it is testament to the talents of Demme. Dig out a copy of Beautiful Girls as well if you can. 15. Bowfinger I'm going out on a limb here and calling Eddie Murphy's performance in Bowfinger as his funniest on the big screen. It's also the last truly funny Steve Martin movie, based on his script. Murphy takes on two roles, one of whom is the world's biggest movie star. And the plan?

To shoot a movie around said movie star, without him realising he's in it. Terrance Stamp contributes an excellent cameo (a role that he'd all but revisit in Yes Man), and Christine Barankski is just brilliant. It's several comedy talents on really strong form. Bowfinger is an hilarious treat. 14. The Emperor's New Groove A movie that could, and perhaps even should have been a disaster. As charted in the unofficial documentary The Sweatbox (directed by Trudi Styler), the movie started out as a very different beast, an environmental musical of sorts with music from Sting. To say it underwent a lot of changes would be no understatement, and The Sweatbox doesn't really pull its punches in that regard. But the movie that started as Kingdon Of The Sun turned into The Emperor's New Groove, and the end result, surprisingly, is one of Disney's funniest animated films ever (and that includes the underappreciated comedy side to Mulan, too). It's laugh out loud good, zippy, hugely entertaining, and one of the rarely mentioned gems of Disney's incredible run from 1989 through to the early 2000s. 13.

In The Bleak Midwinter The best Christmas movie you've probably never seen, and one of Kenneth Branagh's best directorial efforts. In The Bleak Midwinter is a brutally funny story of a bunch of luvvies putting on a production of Hamlet in a British church on Christmas Eve. It gives Branagh a platform to pull the leg of many of his colleagues and friends, and Richard Briers utterly steals any scene he's let anywhere near. We've written about In The Bleak Midwinter in more detail here . It's well worth the effort of tracking down. 12. Adventureland A really charming, funny and warm romantic comedy, Adventureland is from Paul and Superbad director Greg Mottola, from his own screenplay. Jesse Eisenberg takes the lead, as a graduate forced to abandon his plans to go to Europe when his source of money dries up, and thus takes on a job at a run-down amusement park. There, he meets Kristen Stewart's Erin, herself a far from traditional rom-com character. The added gold is in the supporting players, particularly Freaks And Geeks alumnus Martin Starr, who gives a firm lesson in why you should never play the games at a theme park... 11.

Tin Cup Kevin Costner hasn't done too many comedies in a career, which is a pity, as he's got an excellent leading man, with humor rippling through his bones. Tin Cup remains one of the very best romantic comedies for grown ups that the 1990s produced (if not the best), with Costner and Rene Russo as the central couple. The movie's set around the world of golf (cue a great supporting performance from Don Johnson), but as with director Ron Shelton's other sporting movies - most notably Bull Durham - the sport is the platform for him to explore what he really wants to talk about. Tin Cup is funny, charming and brilliant. 10. Hangin' With The Homeboys It's a little known tragedy of movie theater that director Joseph B Vasquez died back in 1995, at the age of just 33. He died of complications from AIDS, bringing a premature end to a career that had shown enormous promise (although his reported behaviour did him few favours). In fact, read into the story of his background, and the fact that he overcame so much to deliver a movie as strong as Hangin' With The Homeboys.

He was 28 when it was released, and from the start, it's a movie that defies expectations and stereotype. At heart, the story of four friends on a night out, Hangin' With The Homeboys goes through a plethora of issues in its 90 minutes, and it's got a raw feel to it throughout. It's also very funny, aided by excellent performances from the likes of Doug E Doug and John Leguizamo. Plus, the terrific punchlines really stand out too. It's not the easiest movie to track down, but Hangin' With The Homeboys is very entertaining, very funny, and very much worth the effort. 9. Kingpin The Farrelly Brothers have had two major hit movies - There's Something About Mary and Dumb And Dumber - but a couple that never found the bigger audience they arguably deserved. We've already talked about the excellent Osmosis Jones, but for sheer, regular laughs, the crude and brilliant Kingpin takes some beating. Not often has Hollywood tackled ten pin bowling as the foundation of a feature, but here, there's the striking rivalry between Bill Murray's Ernie McCracken and Woody Harrelson's Roy Munson to explore.

You don't actually get that much Murray for your money with Kingpin, and it's the spare pair of Harrelson and Randy Quaid's Amish man Ishmael who carry much of the movie. As a piece of narrative fiction, Kingpin is nothing special at all, and for a polite to watch in company without any bull wanking jokes in it, it's probably best to pass. But for a consistently funny, crude movie, stolen by Bill Murray, Kingpin hits. 8. The Castle In the 90s, Australian movie theater generated some break out comedy hits, particularly Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert and the surprisingly melancholy Muriel's Wedding (which gave Toni Collette her big break). The Castle tends to be the forgotten one, but there's an argument it was the best of the lot. It tells the story of a family who live next to Melbourne Airport, and are very happy about it thank you very much. However, when the airport wants to expand, their home is under threat, leaving the family defending their castle.

Director Rob Stich, who would go on to make The Dish, shot the movie in under two weeks (giving a movie debut to Eric Bana as he did so), and the result is a joy, and a right cockle-warmer. A bloody funny one too. 7. Role Models You get to the end of Role Models, and inevitably, your head will be full of the screen grabbing brilliance of Bobb'e J Thompson as the very young Ronnie. He's the young boy who thinks all white men are Ben Affleck, and who offers a crash course in on-screen swearing that many older comic talents could learn from. His "fuck you, Miss Daisy" remains a show stopper. But Role Models has lots of joyous moments. Christopher Mintz-Plasse's vagina joke works every time, and then there's the one who rarely gets the credit, Joe Lo Truglio as LARP-er Kuzzik. Every one of his lines in the movie is a peach. Headlined by Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, the pair of them in strong form, Role Models is proof positive that Hollywood can deliver a funny, enduring R-rated comedy when it gets the right bunch of talent on the right movie.

It's worth 100 Hangover films, and remains a work of comedy genius. "Suck it, Reindeer Games..." 6. BASEketball David Zucker will go down in comedy's hall of fame for The Naked Gun, Airplane! and another movie we'll talk about soon. But BASEketball remains a mysterious flop, a big screen outing for South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone that's often breathlessly funny. It's like Dodgeball, just a decade earlier. Centring on a new sport, a hybrid of baseball and basketball, BASEketball goes through some of the usual motions of the sports movie, but it also injects psych-outs, where random insults need to be shouted out to put a player off their shot. Needless to say, lots of very quotable ones come out in the movie's 90 minute running time. 5. Serial Mom There's an argument that there's a whole cluster of John Waters comedies that don't get the respect and appreciate they deserve. But I'm going for the one that gave Kathleen Turner one of her absolute finest big screen roles. Serial Mom casts her as Beverly R Sutphin, a mother and husband who believes in things being done right.

Beverly is defensive of her family - that's some understatement - and it's not long before the movie's body count escalates. Waters - with a cast that also includes Ricki Lake, Traci Lords and Matthew Lillard - fuses this with many, many laugh out loud moments, the highlight arguably being Beverly beating someone to death with a leg of lamb, while the music of Annie plays out in the background. Every swipe of meat is perfectly in time to the tune. It's all part of a wonderfully black comedy, that gives Turner one of her very, very best screen roles. 4. Office Space Appreciating that Office Space is a movie with a lot of affection in geeky circles, it's still a long way from any kind of mainstream appreciation. And that's the mainstream's loss. In truth, we could have elected one from a bunch of Mike Judge comedies here (Idiocracy and Extract both have lots of strong moments), but Office Space is something special. It's an utterly relatable story which helps, about workers in an office who hate their job and hate their boss.

There's a cracking cast at work here too, but it's a movie nonetheless dominated by one of the best ever comedy scene stealing performances ever put on celluloid. Gary Cole's Bill Lumbergh, the boss from hell, is a staggeringly brilliant creation. Pitched astoundingly well, it demonstrates why Cole is one of the very best comedy actors of his generation (and we're coming to another of his movies next). Combined with Judge's biting script, and the plethora of stand out moments and quotable lines, Office Space is finally getting some of the attention it demands. Still not enough though. Here's Cole at work... 3. A Very Brady Sequel Sequels, goes the cliche, are never as good as the original. But A Very Brady Sequel is to the terrific The Brady Bunch Movie what Aliens is to Alien. It takes the original ideas, and expands it, develops characters, and delivers a movie that works brilliantly as a standalone, but also ties well into the first. It's a bold and brilliant sequel, content to juggle dark themes, with Gary Cole and Shelley Winter furiously selling any innuendo they're let anywhere near.

It's also very funny, and gave the late David Graf one of his final roles (he's best known for Tackleberry in the Police Academy movies). You also get Tim Matheson, before he got made Martin Sheen's vise-president, in one of movie theater's finest tripping scenes. With incest on the one hand and Gary Cole's astonishing Yoda-like performance on the other, A Very Brady Sequel is an exquisite comedy, that didn't even get a movie theater release in the UK (courtesy of a controversy over nunchuks, that saw it effectively banned at one point). Avoid the third movie in the series at all costs, though... See also: cinematic Yodas 2. Top Secret Never mind an underappreciated comedy, Top Secret is an underappreciated movie full stop. It's the oft-forgotten movie from the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker team that's best known for Airplane! and The Naked Gun. But Top Secret? It's as good as anything they've ever done. That's not a statement written lightly.

Top Secret stars a youthful Val Kilmer as Nick Rivers, an American singer performing in East Germany his hits such as Skeet Surfin' and How Silly Can You Get. Gleefully taking the rise out of 50s spy movies and Elvis Presley films, Rivers becomes involved in the resistance movement, and bluntly, the laughs never stop. Highlights? "He's a little horse" out of context sounds like nothing, but it's a bring the house down line. Likewise the Potato Farm, the reversing of war movie stereotypes (man jumps on grenade, everyone around him blows up and he survives), musical numbers, the ballet, Omar Sharif... Top Secret is, in short, a superb comedy. And, in the tradition of Airplane!, one viewing simply is never enough... 1. Waiting For Guffman We had to limit ourselves to just one Christopher Guest movie, else you've have had Best In Show yapping around the top ten and A Mighty Wind a bit further down the list. But few comedies have ever had the effect on me that the glorious Waiting For Guffman had, and yet it astounds me so few people have heard of it. The setup is simple enough.

An amateur dramatics group put on a music to celebrate the anniversary of their small town, and then suddenly go over the top when they learn that the legendary Broadway critic, Mort Guffman, is coming to see it. It isn't just one of the show's ensemble who sees this as their route to fame, and/or out of small town life. Guest's films work on a tight cast of regular players, and they've never gelled together as well as they have here. Guest himself threatens to walk away with the movie as director Corky St Clair, but then there's the wonderful Fred Willard and Catherine O'Hara together. The highlight, for me, is Eugene Levy, whose performance here consistently reduced me to tears of laughter. The kind of laughing at a movie where you wonder where your next breath is coming from, it's that funny. Sure, comedy is subjective, but Waiting For Guffman delivers every single time for me.

Examining insecurities, the appreciation of just a little bit of talent and the frictions of a small production at the best of times, Waiting For Guffman was heavily improvise by Guest and his cast, and between them, they've come up with one of the very best comedies of the past 30 years. Anyone who cares about movie comedy should be tracking down a Christopher Guest boxset. And - Spinal Tap aside - Waiting For Guffman should be the first of his films in the DVD player.

Question: The satirical comedy Airplane! was released in what year?
Answer: 1980